TRIPOLI, Aug 15 (Reuters) – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi
urged his people early on Monday to “liberate Libya” from NATO
and traitors, a day after rebels captured a key town on the road
west to Tunisia, severing Tripoli’s main supply route.

Late on Sunday, representatives of Gaddafi’s government were
holding talks with rebels at a hotel on the southern Tunisian
island of Djerba, a source with direct knowledge of the talks
said — though the government spokesman denied it.

NEAR ZAWIYAH/TRIPOLI, Libya, Aug 14 (Reuters) – Rebel
fighters clashed with Libyan government forces near the Tunisian
border and in the western town of Zawiyah, threatening a vital
supply route to the Libyan capital Tripoli.

The two sides also fought on two eastern fronts on Saturday,
but neither side reported major changes in positions near
Misrata or round the oil town and terminal of Brega.

NEAR ZAWIYAH/TRIPOLI, Libya, Aug 13 (Reuters) – Libyan government forces and rebels clashed around the western town of Zawiyah on Saturday as the insurgents tried to push closer to the capital Tripoli.

Reporters heard gunfire and skirmishing in the coastal town, about 30 miles west of Tripoli. The highway from the capital to the Tunisian border was blocked there.

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – The impact of the West’s two-pronged effort to oust Muammar Gaddafi was apparent this week in Tripoli, where doctors struggled to treat Libyans injured in recent NATO airstrikes amid a deepening shortage of electricity and medical supplies.

Hassan Moussa, senior doctor at Tripoli’s Central Hospital, said physicians had been forced to improvise treatment for critically injured patients as supplies of oxygen and other necessities run short six months after the United Nations renewed sanctions on Libya.

MAJAR, Libya (Reuters) – In Libya’s civil war, where conflicting accusations collide and dusty farmlands have become a battleground, there was little doubt about the conflict’s human toll, no matter its nature or numbers.

The scene was gruesome and chaotic in the seaside town of Zlitan Tuesday as sweaty cameramen and government officials crowded into the tiny, sweltering hospital morgue, clutching scarves and paper masks to protect against the sickening smell.

ZLITAN, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan officials said on Tuesday dozens of civilians had been killed in a NATO strike on a cluster of farmhouses east of Tripoli, but the alliance said it hit a legitimate military target.

A strike causing large numbers of civilian casualties could undermine support in some NATO nations for a campaign to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi that has already proved much longer, bloodier and more costly than its backers had anticipated.

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Power and petrol shortages are gripping the Libyan capital Tripoli, giving rise to frustration as the months of conflict with NATO-backed rebels take their toll on a city that is the seat of embattled leader Muammar Gaddafi’s power.

As rebels continue to fight loyalist forces along several fronts, blackouts have rolled across Tripoli with increasing frequency in recent weeks.

SOUQ AL-JUMAA, Libya (Reuters) – A few kilometers from the front-lines, some of the youngest victims of Libya’s civil war lay on Thursday in simple coffins, testimony to the toll of the conflict in which neither side boasts a clear advantage.

Musatafa al-Marabit, his feet bandaged and his clothes spotted with blood, was led sobbing from the three coffins containing the bodies of his wife and two young sons.

TRIPOLI/ZLITAN, Libya, Aug 2 (Reuters) – Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi’s camp has vowed to push on with its war against
rebels whether or not NATO stops its bombing campaign, leaving
little room for diplomacy to end the five-month conflict.

The rebels and their Western backers kept up the pressure on
the veteran leader as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan began,
with NATO bombing military targets and dropping leaflets over
the capital calling on loyalists to give up.

TRIPOLI/BENGHAZI, Aug 1 (Reuters) – Libyans on both sides of
the front line began fasting for the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan on Monday with no sign of any let-up in the five-month
conflict that has divided their country.

Several explosions rocked the capital, Tripoli, overnight as
the NATO coalition vowed to push on with a bombing campaign
which is meant to protect civilians but is also supporting
rebels trying to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.